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Shades Off | Hong Kong protesters have decided enough is enough. Officials would be foolish to ignore their demands
- Hong Kong protesters are battle-hardened from learning to survive in a city that is tough to live in. If the government thinks the people can be scared off by thugs, beaten down by force and willing to have their voices silenced, it is mistaken
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Why you can trust SCMP
Do Beijing and Hong Kong officials really know what they’re up against? Those millions of people who have taken to the streets over the past seven weeks aren’t ordinary protesters. They are the product of a city that is tough to live in, that was created and shaped by forebears who were even more resilient.
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Given what they’ve endured and been forced to accept, only the foolhardy would fail to take them seriously now that they have decided enough is enough.
Pampered senior officials with luxury government-provided housing and cars, hefty salaries, reasonable working conditions and generous pensions aren’t likely to relate to ordinary Hongkongers. The squeezed living, unaffordable rents, crowded commutes and long working hours of the majority are foreign to those who formulate the policies that govern Hong Kong. They would therefore have little, if any, comprehension of what is driving people onto the streets and the anger that has been mounting. Ignoring and doing nothing to placate is bad enough; trying to shut down avenues of protest and silence will only lead to disaster.
Government attention has been on the minority who have crossed the boundaries of peaceful protest to clash with police and vandalise. But while the actions of the mostly young protesters – glaringly the breaking into and trashing of the Legislative Council chamber and spraying graffiti on the walls of Beijing’s representative office in the city, have been condemned by authorities – they generally have the support of their fellow demonstrators.
That is a sign of just how much trust and respect have been lost by officials and police. Winning back faith will take more than vague promises or a policy address by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor that involves cash handouts.
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There is, after all, a list of demands that remain unanswered. Withdrawal of the extradition bill that is at the root of the crisis is just one among many; Lam having declared it “dead” is not assurance enough that it won’t be revived. Independent inquiries have been called for over alleged police excesses at protests and into the events at Yuen Long MTR station on July 21, when 45 people were injured in an attack by dozens of white-shirted men said to have triad links.
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